Wednesday, October 01, 2008

potato chips in the microwave?!?!

A couple of my favorite blogs posted last week about making your own potato chips...in the microwave? Wha? Redonkulous! I had to see for myself. I've never seen anything crisp come out of a microwave. So I got some taters and broke out my thumb-eater mandoline and got to experimenting.

I did the first batch on paper towels, not overlapping. I nuked them for 3 minutes on full power then 3 minutes on 1/2 power, then 1 minute on 1/2 power a couple times until they looked nicely browned. And guess what? They were crisp! Amazing. They were also stuck to the paper towel. Here are a couple video demonstrating the chips' crunch and stuck-ness:

For the second batch I put the potato slices straight on a plate, and seasoned them with smoked salt. Same cooking method. This time, they stuck to the plate. Also, it seemed I had put too much salt on them. It didn't seem like alot when I put it on, but the flavors must have intensified a lot in the microwave.

For the third batch, I seasoned the taters with celery salt and garlic powder. This time I put the slices on parchment paper laid directly on the microwave's turning plate. The didn't stick this time! Well, they stuck together, because I overlapped them. I also over seasoned them again. :(

Then I thought I would go the next step and try making sweet potato chips.

I love me some sweet potato chips, but I rarely find them for sale. Plus I never like how they are seasoned. Using the parchment paper trick again, I nuked the sweet potato slices. They took longer than the russet potato, but eventually they crisped up. I just kept adding 1-minute until they were done. You have to watch carefully, I think...I could see these getting burnt pretty fast. The sweet potatoes also shrunk more than the russet, and they didn't stick together. They were not as pretty as I'd hoped, as they got a strange gray color to them...Still tasty and crisp, though!

In conclusion:

• Microwave potato chips are the real deal!! Crisp and potatoey.

• It's very easy to over-season/salt. Be very careful.

• Parchment paper is the best vehicle for these chips.

• Do not overlap the russet potato slices, as they will stick together.

• Sweet potatoes work well. I can't wait to make some chipotle flavored ones. And perhaps curry! Oh, and sweet ones with cinnamon and sugar!

I absolutely died laughing when you tried to peel the chips off the towel. I tried making pralines ONCE and only once. Our friend from Louisiana taught me. Replay that scene but with wax paper. It didn't work!

You kept going. I would have thrown a hissy fit littered with cuss words and just tossed them in the trash and given up!